Educational blog articles around inbound marketing.

Taking Your Business Online? 7 Common Mistakes to Avoid

Starting a business of any kind requires a substantial amount of planning and decision-making, all of which can put you on the path towards success or keep your business stalled right out of the gate.

The same is true when taking your business online, but it can be more difficult if you've never had experience in this aspect of business.

In today's world, it's essential that you have an online presence, however, there are some mistakes you'll want to avoid for your business to be successful when taking it online.

1. Overpaying For Your Website

One of the biggest difficulties of creating your website is determining how much you're willing to pay and how much you should pay. You don't want to pay too little, as the quality and feature-set included with the design will likely be lacking from what you might expect.

However, it's also essential that you don't overpay for your website and invest a sizable amount of your budget in a design that could have been created for far less.

Although you might believe that the most expensive web designers will provide you with the best features and the most modern design, this isn't always true, as there are many that attempt to increase the costs by filtering in a lot of useless features that you simply don't need for your business.

To avoid making such a costly mistake, let the designer know more about your business goals and objectives so that the final design can be built around these goals.

While your website should have some of the latest web design features and must have a design that's intuitive and easy-to-use for visitors, it's also important that you keep the project focused on exactly what you need to succeed and accomplish your goals.

2. Dismissing Any Negative Feedback

Getting negative feedback is a frustrating experience for most companies, but there's no reason that it has to be. Negative feedback can be difficult to hear, but can also be very helpful when you're launching your business online.

Many companies make the mistake of believing that negative feedback should be largely ignored in favor of staying on course.

While it's certainly important to have a set plan for what you want to do with your website and brand in the days and weeks after you bring it online, listening to feedback and making small corrections can be invaluable towards bringing in new customers and showing your current ones that you're open to listening to customer feedback.

3. Not Focusing on Target Audience

If you've marketed your business before in a standard offline capacity, you likely understand that it's important to focus the brunt of your marketing campaign on your target audience.

This remains true when you take a business online, though many companies believe that taking their business online will automatically bring in new customers and continue to appeal to the same demographics that bought their products due to their offline marketing campaign.

Despite this belief, the truth is that online customers react differently than people who shop in a brick-and-mortar capacity, so you'll want to take the necessary measures to identify your online target audience and focus your online efforts on this audience.

If you wish to compete against large online companies, you'll want to do everything you can to meet the needs of your target customers.

4. Refusing to Learn About the Competition

Your online competition will differ from your offline competitors, with the primary difference being that there will inevitably be more competitors for you to compete with.

Creating a website for your brand or company is much easier than finding a storefront location, so you'll find a lot more companies vying for the attention of the same customers as you are.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that success offline will translate into online success, as refusing to learn more about the competition will only reduce the chances of establishing an online foothold in your specific industry.

When studying your competition, focus on learning what they're doing poorly, what they're not focusing on that they should be, if they're pricing their items or services correctly, and whether or not the products or services they sell match the quality offered by your company.

5. Forgetting to Optimize Your Website

Website optimization is absolutely key to finding success online and is something that many business owners attempting to bolster their online presence forget to do.

Customers who visit your website wish to be greeted with fast loading, easy navigation, and a call-to-action on every page, so make sure to optimize for this.

Make use of search engine optimization techniques such as keyword targeting and link building, to increase your chances of ranking towards the top of search engine results.

6. Misrepresenting Your Business or Brand

One mistake that can quickly damage your reputation and credibility is misrepresenting your business or brand online.

When engaging in digital marketing or building your website, it's important that you don't exaggerate what your product or service can offer and the benefits that the customer can receive from it.

Online customers are very likely to leave reviews and feedback throughout social media, Yelp pages, or a variety of other sources that could quickly damage your business's reputation and chances of gaining new business.

Focus on highlighting the true value of what your brand has to offer and establish a connection with your audience to increase customer loyalty, receive positive reviews, and close new business.

7. Not Spreading Out to Social Media

Social media is integral to the success of any online business. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn can prove invaluable at allowing you to reach a larger audience and connect with current customers.

Don't hesitate to build a page or profile on the platforms where your target audience resides. Begin establishing a presence and develop a following and you will quickly see the benefits it will have for your business.

I hope you found this information beneficial and feel free to comment down below any thoughts or questions you may have.

ZioSolutions is an Inbound Marketing, Website Design, and Sales Enablement Agency. Founded in 2015 by Zachary Raineri and Geoff King, ZioSolutions is proud to be located in St. Louis, Missouri and active in helping others achieve marketing and sales success.